InTheCapital

By Carl Pierre / @carlpierre

It’s the WMATA’s worst fear: the commuters are organizing!

So for any of those unfamiliar with what happened this morning, the metro had one of it’s worst delays on the Red Line. Due to a track malfunction at Tenleytown (cracked rail) trains were at a stand still as Metro workers rushed to fix it. 

Actually, the word ‘rushed’ is neither accurate nor keeping to my duties to maintain journalistic integrity.

I report the truth.

How about…after an excruciating amount of time with some commuters waiting on trains for hours, the problem was fixed. There, I think that’s more apt of a description.

With hundreds of commuters in brutal agony as they languished in what can only be described as the subway system from hell, many of them felt the need to vent.  Some took to Twitter about their Metro woes, others just talked about it around the water cooler, and then again others created petitions.

Yes, a petition. 

Jennifer Stark, a commuter who relies on the Metro as a sole source of transportation, was delayed to work for hours with no communication from the WMATA about the status of the trains. She was so put off by their actions that she created a petition demanding reparations for all Metro commuters and the inconvenience they endured this morning, reparations in the form of one day where commuting on the Red Line would be free. 

Suffice to say that WMATA would instantly balk at this idea, but I can’t help but admire it’s ingenuity. For such an egregious lack of communication and the clear lack of respect the WMATA has for its commuters, one day of free rides would sound about evens steven.

Jennifer Stark wrote this:

Because metro riders in the DC Metro area have been taken for granted for so long (unexplained delays, broken escalators, little information at stations when something occurs, etc.) that we need collective action! If Arab Spring could bring dictators to their knees - surely thousands of well informed folks from all parts of the DC Metro area can make Metro listen and treat riders with respect and come up with innovative ways to address these challenges.

After describing her personal inconveniences, she later gives her list of demands:

So give us 1 day free on our Red Line commutes.  Make it a business day.  Make it a way to show that WMATA apologizes for the delays, for the lack of communication and will hold themselves accountable for when things fail.  A good faith effort to show WMATA is really listening.  Not just shrugging shoulders and saying “tough cookies, it happens.”

As much as I find demanding WMATA for anything in the form of equality or better service as a laughable venture, I can’t help but fully agreeing with Jennifer.

As a Metro commuter myself, you reach a threshold where you can only deal with so much bullshit from a government body and say that enough is enough.

This past month alone has been fraught with problems: from the lack of communication regarding suicides, to the brake malfunctions, to their own personnel stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars under their nose, I can emphatically say that the WMATA has been doing a shitty job.

So a petition to demand a free day of Metro rides? Hell, that’s the least they can do, how about a steak dinner and a back rub? For all the horribleness they’ve put commuters through, we’ve earned it.

So to all those reading this, why not sign it? Who knows what might happen.

[image via unsuckdcmetro]